$1,700 TPC Championship
$250,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 15:  3,000/6,000 with a 6,000 ante
Day 1A Players Remaining:  7 of 53

After a bit of a grind with the deep stacks, Flight A of the TPC Championship popped the money bubble and Dan Murray continued his heater to bag the chip lead with 610,000

Daniel Zucker isn’t far behind with 595,000 with Ken Grooms, Fred Paradis, Ricard Eyzaguirre, Tony March, and C.J. Walker rounding out the survivors.

Flight B starts tomorrow at 11 am with the final flight on Saturday at the same time.

Dan Murray – 610,000 (102 bb)
Daniel Zucker – 595,000 (99 bb)
Ken Grooms – 250,000 (42 bb)
Fred Paradis – 189,000 (32 bb)
Ricardo Eyzaguirre – 184,000 (31 bb)
Tony March – 172,000 (29 bb)
C.J. Walker – 112,000 (19 bb)

$1,700 TPC Championship
$250,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 12:  1,500/3,000 with a 3,000 ante
Day 1A Players Remaining:  16 of 53

Flight A is down to its last two tables with 16 players remaining and they won’t stop until seven players are ready to book their seat in the Day 2 field.

Except for the next break coming up, that will stop the action for 15 minutes while the purple chips come out of play.

$1,700 TPC Championship
$250,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 10:  1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 ante
Day 1A Players Remaining:  20 of 53

We have a new leader in Flight A of the TPC Championship with Dan Murray moving to the top. His 217,000 is the only stack over 200K but Tony March is making a run at him in second.

Here are a few counts from those trying to bag up later this evening:

Dan Murray – 217,000 (109 bb)
Tony March – 182,000 (91 bb)
Juan Catala – 158,000 (79 bb)
Ricardo Eyzaguirre – 144,000 (72 bb)
David Chalifour – 113,500 (57 bb)
Fred Paradis – 111,000 (56 bb)
Eli Kiwan – 103,000 (52 bb)
John Kennedy – 98,000 (49 bb)
Mitchell Smith – 94,500 (47 bb)
Pratik Shah – 77,000 (39 bb)
C.J. Walker – 73,500 (37 bb)
A.J. Kelsall – 45,500 (23 bb)
Joshua Pitz – 36,000 (18 bb)
Gabe Fuller – 34,500 (17 bb)
Ya Yao – 25,000 (13 bb)

$1,700 TPC Championship
$250,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 10:  1,000/2,000 with a 2,000 ante
Day 1A Entries:  53

Registration closed for Flight A of the 2026 Tampa Poker Classic Championship with 53 entries, putting $79,500 toward the $250,000 guarantee with three more big flights to go.

Action will continue until seven players remain and they will advance to Day 2 on Sunday at 11 am. Players must bag chips to cash in the tournament.

$1,700 TPC Championship
$250,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 9:  800/1,600 with a 1,600 ante
Day 1A Entries:  50

Time is running out if you want to join the smaller opening flight of the TPC Championship with registration closing after this level and next break. Starting tomorrow, there will be the bigger weekend flights, including a big lot on Saturday.

They’ve already put $75K toward the $250,000 guarantee and it’s going to get real big by this time Saturday evening.

$1,700 TPC Championship
$250,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 7:  500/1,000 with a 1,000 ante
Day 1A Entries:  45

Players returned to action after the second break and will work through three more levels before we close registration.

Daniel Califour continues to lead the Flight A field but players are catching up. Among them is Eli Kiwan who caught a big hand before the break, sending a player out with straight flight over straight flush. Having the top end of it eliminated one player and put him over 100K.

Here are some big stacks and counts from around the room:

Daniel Califour – 122,500 (123 bb)
Juan Catala – 109,300 (109 bb)
Eli Kiwan – 108,000 (108 bb)
Joshua Pitz – 102,400 (102 bb)
Ye Yao – 102,300 (102 bb)
Ricardo Eyzaguirre – 98,300 (98 bb)
Pratik Shah – 95,400 (95 bb)
C.J. Walker – 94,100 (94 bb)
Fred Paradis – 69,000 (69 bb)
Mitchell Smith – 68,400 (68 bb)
Tony March – 67,500 (68 bb)
Gabe Fuller – 65,800 (66 bb)
Ken O’Donnell – 36,500 (37 bb)
A.J. Kelsall – 26,200 (26 bb)

$1,700 TPC Championship
$250,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 6:  400/800 with a 800 ante
Day 1A Entries:  42

Another break is on deck when we run out Level 6 to the end and they can feed themselves or get some fresh air.

We will use that time to walk around and find a few chip counts from the field.

$1,700 TPC Championship
$250,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 4:  300/500 with a 500 ante
Day 1A Entries:  35

Players returned to action after the first break, many enjoying the comfort food offered by the Poker Snack Bar near the tournament area, and they are back underway with three more levels before another respite.

Daniel Chalifour had a nice three levels to start his day and he leads the field with 123,100. A few more friends grabbed seats before the break including 2025 PPO Champ Rafael Reis and 2026 WPO DeepStacks Challenge winner Ricardo Eyzaguirre.

Here’s a look at some counts from around the room:

Daniel Chalifour – 123,100 (246 bb)
Igor Tretyakov – 78,600 (157 bb)
Tony March – 78,500 (157 bb)
Juan Catala – 60,500 (121 bb)
Ricardo Eyzaguirre – 57,600 (115 bb)
Ye Yao – 53,400 (107 bb)
Fred Paradis – 52,300 (105 bb)
Eli Kiwan – 47,200 (94 bb)
Rafael Reis – 41,000 (82 bb)
Joshua Pitz – 28,800 (58 bb)
Pratik Shah – 26,000 (52 bb)

$1,700 TPC Championship
$250,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 3:  200/400 with a 400 ante
Day 1A Entries:  26

We are cruising along in the Draper Room with four tables in action and plenty of action. They will play out this level and take a break and we will check on some stacks.

Some early friends in action include Igor Tretyakov, Eli Kiwan, Tony March, Juan Catala, and John Dolan.

$1,700 TPC Championship
$250,000 Guaranteed  |  Structure
Level 1:  100/200 with a 200 ante
Day 1A Entries:  16

Action is underway for the 2026 Tampa Poker Classic Championship with 16 players at the start and many more expected as we get deeper into the weekend.

They will play the first three levels of the day before grabbing a break at the snack bar.